In Defence of Piper McLean
by Panda the Magical Demigod
Summary: I grew so sick of everyone hating on my favourite character that I decided to take all of the arguments and hate points that I'd heard and counterargue and deconstruct them. Ideas, points and friendly debate are welcome; hatred and flaming are not! Language warning for minor swearing but no cussing every other line or something.
1. Piper is a Mary Sue

**Personally, I'm sick of people hating on Piper and calling her a Mary Sue and hating on her. She's my absolute favourite character of the series – yes, even more than Annabeth – which is surprising since I didn't think I'd like a child of Aphrodite more than a child of Athena, since Athena would be more likely to be my mum than Aphrodite. But I think the main reason I love Piper is simply because a lot of other people hate her – I'm attracted to underdogs and while Annabeth does have some hate, she's loved by most of the fandom. Enough of my waffling – I hope you enjoy my chapter-by-chapter deconstructions :)**

_1. Piper is a Mary Sue_

The most prevalent hate point I've seen is that Piper is a Mary Sue. Now, let's define a Mary Sue. A typical, basic Mary Sue (male counterpart, Gary Stu) is a character who is utterly flawless and if she does have flaws then they are 'faux flaws' – that is, they only exist to make the character look good (for example, Bella Swan's clumsiness only ever acts up when Edward is around to catch her). Everybody loves her and those that don't are hated by everyone and made to look horrible and they're the sort of characters you wouldn't want to like you anyway. These characters are only there to provide the Sue with 'conflict' and make her look oh so good and pure while everyone cheers and adores them. A Sue must also have 'speshul powahs' and be rich and/or famous and/or beautiful so that they can spend pages angsting about it and holding up ever so strongly under the strain of being these things. They can also have a tragic past or backstory just to add to their angst and 'strength', such as abuse or rape, but not all of them do; Bella's past was hardly tragic and she's still a Sue so it's not a requirement.

Let's tackle these features one by one. Piper does indeed have flaws. For one, her obsession with Jason (more on that later). She can also be a bit of a hypocrite, since she claims not to care about her appearance but she spends so much time and effort downplaying her looks and trying to make herself look rougher (which in itself _is_ caring about her looks). She is also very possessive, claiming Jason as her own multiple times and getting jealous when anyone dares to even look at him the wrong way and disliking Reyna before even meeting her simply out of petty jealousy.

But these flaws make her human. Honestly, with the way Jason's appearance was described and what with Piper's Mist-induced memories, I'd be a bit worried if she was more chilled out and not worried about losing Jason. Her innate hypocrisy is something we all possess; heck, I hate it when people are mean to each other and total assholes but I can be a right bitch when I want to be and I complain about people who sit around and whine about their problems yet don't do anything to fix them, and that's often what I do when things get tough. It's human nature and while Piper's hypocritical whininess at times may turn some people off, I personally found it relatable. I don't give a damn how I look but, hypocritically, I'll still go out of my way to make myself look good sometimes. I didn't relate to her possessiveness but maybe that's just me; it did, however, add another flaw to her character.

Piper doesn't have any faux flaws as far as I can tell. Her low self-esteem and stealing to get her father's attention _did _stray into the realm of clichéd rebellious princess but at least Piper wasn't just doing it for the 'OMG, I am, lyke, such a rebel! Love me, everyone!' factor that many rebellious princesses have. She didn't do it to show off and to be a typical tough princess; she did it to get her father's attention and it _did _backfire on her. The day after she stole that BMW, her father took her to the beach for some time together and then when Jane went to tell Tristan, Piper had an 'oh, shit!' moment when she realised that her bid to get his attention had backfired horribly. She finally realised that she'd gone too far and probably succeeded in pushing her father further away and reinforcing the image of a typical, spoiled, rebellious princess in his eyes and I feel that that partially defeated the rebellious princess cliché; yes, she did have a small meltdown when her father tried to send her to the school but she didn't whine and throw a massive tantrum because she was being sent away and scream about how her father doesn't love her and the clichéd Spoiled Brat Tantrum Over Being Disciplined – she was more upset because he refused to acknowledge that Jane did everything for him and that Jane acted as more of a parent to Piper than he did. The point is that none of Piper's flaws were there to make her look good but rather to make her look human (or half-human, if you want to get technical about it).

Next, the 'everybody loves a Sue' factor. Not everybody loved Piper. Drew didn't, although I won't go into that because she was a typical, cardboard Scary Sue. Khione didn't like her, although she also didn't like Leo (especially) and the others of the Seven. Her father thought that at times she could be immature and a bit of a brat, what with her stealing things needlessly, and Jane quite obviously didn't like her. Reyna didn't like her at first either, being jealous of her relationship with Jason, but they did eventually develop a mutual respect of each other and Piper even says that she was prepared to hate Reyna but couldn't.

Now, were any of these characters hated by everyone else for daring to dislike precious Piper or made to look utterly incompetent or evil? I didn't like Drew and Piper's rivalry, since that _was_ a typical, clichéd, catty rivalry, but Drew was hated by everyone because she was a bitch and bullied everyone, not just Piper – while she was there to make Piper look good, she was hated by everyone long before Piper arrived and she wasn't created _specifically_ for this purpose; she was also key in reinforcing Silena's role as a hero and to help contrast between the weaker Piper who had no clue of anything and felt useless to the more confident Piper who realised that after rescuing the queen of the gods and charmspeaking Gaea herself to sleep, she could take on someone like Drew.

Khione didn't like most demigods and she wasn't exactly a ray of sunshine to begin with. We all got a bit of insight into Tristan's character and found why he kept his distance from Piper and he did have several points with her stealing stuff. Jane…I was a bit iffy about that. She seemed like the stereotypical evil secretary who gets her just desserts in the end but she was a very minor character in the grand scheme of things anyway, just like Drew. And when were we ever told that we must hate Reyna because she didn't like Piper? She was portrayed as a very strong woman, one to admire, and that put paid to my wariness before meeting her because of Piper's thoughts about her. The majority of Piper's rivals, or at least those who disagree with her, are not hated horribly or portrayed as 'teh evulz' for not bowing down to her and they were not there purely to make Piper look good. The ones we _were_ told to dislike were evil anyway, like the giants, and even then some of them were pretty funny.

And now onto the typical Mary Sue traits of being oh so privileged and speshul and holding up prettily and daintily while whining about wanting to be normal. I think I'll tackle the normal part first: didn't most demigods in the series want to be normal? Annabeth was upset because she wasn't normal and her father and stepmum didn't like her because of this. If she'd been normal, she'd never have run away from home and could have had a good life. If Luke had been normal, he'd never have had to make the choices he did. If Thalia was normal, she'd never have been turned into a tree. If Nico was normal, he wouldn't have lost his sister and had to be removed from society because he was in danger and his mum would be alive. If Percy was normal, his mother wouldn't have had to put up with Gabe and he wouldn't have been kicked out of every school he went to. If Leo was normal, his mother would still be alive and his family wouldn't hate him. If Jason was normal, he'd have grown up with Thalia and had a big sister and a relatively normal life. See what I'm getting at? I hardly see how wanting to be normal is a Sue trait because I'm fairly certain that deep down, every demigod wants to be normal and stop being chased by monsters constantly. By that logic, they're all Sues.

Yes, Piper is privileged and rich and beautiful. Rachel is rich and privileged and her parents hardly pay attention to her but people only hated her because she dared to get in the way of Percabeth. Annabeth is beautiful but people don't hate her for that. So why hate Piper? Oh, I know: because she's a poor, tragic rich girl whose father doesn't pay attention to her and she's ever so beautiful and rich but is modest and doesn't like to draw attention to herself and she has the 'OMG Mary Sue kaleidoscope eyes!' and how does she ever hold up from the pressure of having a rich dad? Personally, I think that Piper's not wanting to draw attention to herself isn't so much about hating that she's ever so beautiful but wanting to be recognised on her own merits instead of by her looks. Plenty of beautiful people (and this is not a stereotype or a hate attack) could and do bat their eyelashes and everyone would scramble to do their bidding but Piper wants to do stuff herself and be noticed for her actions, not her looks that she can't help. I also feel that this is a lose-lose situation for poor Piper; if she took pride in her beauty and appearance, people would call her a slut and a stereotypical spoiled rich girl and 'OMG I hate her!11111' but if she does the opposite, people call her an attention seeker and hate on her for that.

And Piper has a _reason_ for her beauty and kaleidoscope eyes. Seriously, she's a freaking child of Aphrodite, a goddess who brings all the gods to their knees and started a whole war; of _course_ she's going to be beautiful! That's like hating on a child of Athena for being smarter than usual, or a son of Hephaestus for being stronger than usual. It's part of her and she can't change that, so why do people pick on her for something she can't help? She inherits her kaleidoscope eyes from her mum; most Mary Sues I've seen have them just because 'lyke, OMG, my eyes look, lyke, so awesum!' and because kaleidoscope eyes are pretty; we aren't given a reason. Piper, however, has a perfectly legitimate reason and I'd understand taking jabs at the eyes if Annabeth or Hazel had them, since they aren't a feature of Athena's or Pluto's.

I've also seen hate for Piper because she has a beautiful singing voice, just like every other Mary Sue out there, and she has a sooper speshul weapon and has both beauty and brawn. Well, for one, how does being a good singer make you a Mary Sue? By that logic, all those singers like Pink, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry are Mary Sues because they can sing beautifully. And kind ofI think that Piper's beautiful voice tied in with her charmspeak – you sort of get the impression that charmspeak wouldn't be nearly as effective with an ugly voice.

And as for her weapon, you can claim that Piper is a Sue for having a sooper speshul weapon that shows her the future if you like. But then by that logic, you'd have to call Percy and Jason Gary Stus for having speshul unique weapons (and Percy's has a tragic past to boot; hmm, maybe his _sword_ is a Gary Stu) and Leo a Stu for having a speshul unique tool belt and Annabeth a Sue for having a speshul unique hat. If you want to hate on Piper for having a unique weapon then you have to apply that logic to the other characters too.

Claims that Piper is a Sue because she's beautiful and can fight make me mad. That is just like automatically discriminating against a whole cabin of kids just because their mother is the goddess of love. I got the impression that it wasn't that they _couldn't_ fight, they just _chose_ not to because they didn't want to get their hair and clothes dirty and messy. Silena chose to defy this stereotype and lead the Ares cabin into battle, even if she couldn't use a weapon properly, and Piper didn't even learn how to use her weapon properly until around about MoA. If she had immediately picked up sword fighting or only taken a few days or months to become an absolute master (like a _certain_ male character I know) then maybe I'd agree but not only did it take months for her to even begin to learn how to properly use her knife, she still isn't even the strongest or most experienced fighter on the team. Percy, Jason, Annabeth – they're far more experienced than her and better than her but do people hate on them for that? People only hate on Piper because she's beautiful and has all these talents that others have too but if anything, that's just as shallow as some people accuse her to be because they're not looking beyond her beauty and are only seeing her as a pretty face.

And now I must concede something to the haters. Yes, Piper does whine a bit and Annabeth did have a tougher life and held up far better. However, along with adding another flaw to Piper, I think people must remember that these two girls have had different lives. Annabeth has been alone her whole life and ran away at seven years old, only to have the closest thing to a sister be turned into a tree (I'm not counting Luke at this time, since she only learned he was evil after he tried to kill Percy and Piper does have experience in betrayal later on so it's not exclusive to Annabeth). Piper, no matter how independent she is, was still raised in a life of privilege and luxury and wasn't used to living rough like Annabeth was. Piper didn't run away at age seven and she hasn't had to survive on the streets and watch her best friend turn into a tree. So, I ask, how is it realistic for Piper and Annabeth to react exactly the same way to their oh so tough lives?

Annabeth was used to having to bottle up her feelings and suck it up; Piper, while different from a typical spoilt rich kid, is still essentially one (minus spoilt) and is not used to dealing with things such as her dad being kidnapped and having to choose between her friends or her father. Annabeth has known that she was a demigod since age seven and we were never shown her reaction to learning that (we did see a flashback but she wasn't explicitly told she was a demigod); Piper went from dating Jason to finding out that this was a lie and that her mum was a goddess and she had to digest all of this, along with going on a quest practically the next day from when she arrived at camp. I'm not excusing Piper's whining; I'm merely providing reasons. Piper and Annabeth are different characters and to expect them to react the same is unrealistic and if that happened, Piper would have been called a knock-off Annabeth.

And also, the fact that she keeps her whining to herself and doesn't voice it is a point in her favour because otherwise she _would_ look like a brat; if we're going to hate on her for whining internally then I suppose we're all Sueish brats because I whinge to myself on a daily basis but that doesn't mean I'm going to go and complain to everyone else and draw attention to myself and make myself look like a spoilt child. She didn't want to burden her friends with her troubles, thus highlighting her love and respect of her friends, and yes, it would have been better for her to tell them so that they could better prepare and it could have turned out a disaster because of this but doesn't that count as a flaw and therefore undermine the 'Piper is a Mary Sue' argument? Bella Swan may have whined internally and told her friends jack just like Piper but the thing that makes her different (and unlikeable if you don't like her) is that she does _nothing_ about it, while Piper hated being helpless and was determined to do something and stop Gaea.

In conclusion to this point, Piper did stray close to Suedom but she was _not_ a Mary Sue; she did have flaws and legitimate, likeable (in Reyna and Tristan's case) characters that didn't like her or weren't enamoured with her and she wasn't another sooper speshul, 'how do I ever hold up?' rich Mary Sue. I just hope that if you don't agree with me, you can express this to me _nicely_ and not rant and rave about how much you hate Piper. Tune in next time for point number two!

~ Puffy


	2. Piper is Useless and Weak

**I'm overwhelmed by the response I got for my first argument. I was only expecting one or two reviews and then I wake up this morning and find seven lovely reviews waiting for me – and on Christmas Eve too! :D Thank you to IAMNOTAGIRLBUTASTORMWITHINSKIN, Abnegation Ravenclaw, SilverSeaweedBrains, William Carstairs, Dork Asian and the two guests that took the time to review :) Because I am an impatient person, I am posting this chapter now in the morning and then my third argument later tonight. If you have any other points (other than her Jason obsession) then please do send them in!**

_2. Piper is a fucking weak, useless character who is a jerk and does nothing but whine and moan!_

I already addressed the whining in my first chapter and may I just say that this point makes my blood boil. Let us address each point separately.

Firstly, her uselessness. Ok, for argument's sake, let's just say that Piper is useless and does absolutely nothing of value to help. Logically, we could then take her out of the story and suffer no adverse side effects. So, how about a list of what would happen if we _did_ take her out?

Without Piper distracting Ma Gasket, Leo would not have had enough time to make his universal remote and control the machinery to take out the Cyclopes and Jason and their third companion (since three is the best number for a quest) would have been eaten. Leo would either have been discovered and eaten too, run in to try and help and got eaten too or be forced to give up and return to camp, broken and feeling ashamed, and Gaea would win before they even got far into their quest.

If Piper hadn't been with Jason and Leo in Medea's store and charmspoken them out of their trance, they would have killed each other, Hera would never have been freed and Medea and Gaea would have won.

Without Piper, Aphrodite may not have helped them complete their quest in TLH and they would not have known that their enemy was Gaea and not had new supplies to continue on.

Piper's charmspeak lulled Gaea to sleep so that Leo could break Hera's cage – if not for Piper, Gaea would have consumed Hera and risen and she and the giants would have won.

And that's only in The Lost Hero (mostly because that's the only book I've got with me at the moment). If not for Piper, Leo and Jason would not have even made it past the Cyclopes and the quest would have failed. Just because Piper isn't the best fighter does _not_ mean that she's useless – it just means that she's useful in other ways. And Leo doesn't even use a sword, in case everyone has forgotten, and yet he's thought of as very useful and essential (and I'm not criticising him, since I'm one of his many fangirls :D).

And now her weakness. As I said above, she isn't weak or useless – her strengths lie in other areas. Jason, Percy, Annabeth and co. are better with their weapons; Piper, while handy with a knife, is better and more experienced with the power of love and loyalty. As Aphrodite said herself in TLH, love can bring even the gods to their knees and Piper understands that there are many forms of love and uses her charmspeak as her own weapon. It may not be physical but just look at the other users of it: Circe persuaded Percy to want to do anything for her and to drink something that would turn him into a guinea pig in SoM and Medea nearly made Jason and Leo kill each other until Piper was able to snap them out of it. Heck, Piper was able to make the primordial Earth Mother herself sleepy and convince her that she was tired and wanted to sleep! Obviously, charmspeak can be a dangerous weapon so who says Piper is weak and useless? Just because she doesn't like messing around with people doesn't mean she doesn't know the true power of persuasion.

I've heard multiple reasons as to why Piper is a jerk: she challenged Drew for leadership of Cabin 10 and bullied her into stepping down, she stole Jason from Reyna, she manipulates and controls everyone with her charmspeak constantly, she considered betraying Leo and Jason just to save her dad and – le _gasp_! – she called Percy unimpressive next to Jason. Again, let us break this down:

_a) She challenged Drew for leadership and bullied her._

How was she a jerk for challenging Drew? She followed all the rules and protocols and had every right to challenge Drew. As Mitchell said, 'Oldest camper automatically gets the post, unless somebody with more years or more completed quests wants to challenge'. Piper had no right at first because she had just arrived and she wasn't the oldest and hadn't completed any quests but by the end of the book, she had completed a quest and therefore had grounds to challenge Drew. I actually thought that the concept was good in that it highlighted the difference between the Piper she was at first and the Piper she had become and the inner strength she had discovered (gods, I sound like I'm writing an English essay on our topic of discovery). I even understand why she had to challenge Drew the way she did; sometimes, the only for someone to take you seriously is to make them listen and show that you're serious. If Piper had shown any weakness, Drew would have walked all over her and Piper even says that 'She didn't want to rule by fear'. She didn't bully Drew – if she had, she would have sneered and rubbed it in and beaten Drew up to get her to concede. The part about her claiming Jason I hate though, and that will be touched on in a later point.

_b) She stole Jason from Reyna._

How in Hades did she steal Jason from Reyna when _he wasn't even going out with her_? Jason stated that he had no romantic feelings for Reyna, even though she may have liked him but also admitted that _they were not going out_. Yes, if Jason had never had his memories stolen and met Piper then he may have grown to like Reyna romantically but that's a whole other possibility and that's not what happened. Does Piper deserve to have her boyfriend ripped away just because some haters are pissed that Jason ended up with 'the weak, useless bitch instead of the tough fellow praetor'? If anything, that's Jason being taken from Reyna in reverse and totally discredits their argument. And also, Reyna was quick to flirt with Percy so she can't have liked Jason _that_ much if she was already moving on from him (no, I don't hate Reyna but I'm trying to prove a point).

_c) She manipulates everyone with her charmspeak constantly._

Excuse me? Piper specifically stated in TLH that she didn't like to mess around with her charmspeak, which puts paid to the manipulative argument; if she was manipulative, she'd enjoy messing with everyone's minds and feeling powerful. Her charmspeak was kind of necessary to the quest; without it, Hera wouldn't have been freed and even later on, her charmspeak got her out of some tight situations. Hating Piper for her power is like hating Percy for controlling water or Annabeth for being smart; it's a part of her, she didn't really ask for it, but she knows that it can be useful in sticky situations, so pretty much deal with it.

_d) She considered betraying her friends for her father._

Let me put you in a hypothetical situation. You've been raised by a single parent that you love – a parent who brought you into the world and who loves you and who you love (even if you may not have spent much time together) – and you learn that they've been kidnapped and only you can save them. You then learn that to do this, you must betray two friends that you've only had for a few weeks but love dearly. Not so easy a decision to make, is it? Yes, Piper whines a fair bit about her father and how he doesn't pay her attention but _she loves him and he loves her_. If she truly didn't love him or was _really_ vindictive over this, she wouldn't think twice about abandoning him in favour of Jason and Leo and saving the world! And then at the end of the book, she learns of her father's reasons for keeping his distance and that he may not have as much time for her as she might like and she accepts this! If you still insist on calling her a bitchy jerk for considering betraying her friends then maybe I'll kidnap your parent(s) and force you to choose between them and your friends until you at least understand what Piper had to go through (joking; I'm pretty sure I'd get arrested for that).

_e) She called Percy unimpressive._

This, more than anything, just makes me burst out laughing. Piper simply said that Percy wasn't as muscly as Jason and not as impressive as him _after everything she had heard about him_. She'd heard stories about him that built him up to be some godlike hero and then she sees that he's just a slender, scruffy kid who doesn't look too impressive next to _her boyfriend, who she is in love with_. Of course she's going to think that her boyfriend is more impressive than a guy she just met. She also said that she could see why Annabeth liked him but that he wasn't her type! What, is it suddenly a crime to not think that Percy is your type? If that's the case then Nico should be hated too for his comment at the end of BoO but everyone still loves him. This isn't the same but it brings to mind Harmonian Ginny haters, who loved Ginny in OotP when she said she'd given up on Harry and then promptly turned on her and made her out to be a slutty demoness in HBP because she liked Harry and sank their ship. As long as Ginny conformed to their ideals they liked her and they hated her simply for sinking their ship and _not _because of her personality or character (incidentally, she's one of my favourites). This is another lose-lose situation for Piper; if she admits that Percy is cute and impressive and all then haters would slam her for daring to like Percy when he has a girlfriend and she has a boyfriend and start to label her as a slut but if she admits that he's unimpressive next to her boyfriend, she's slammed for daring to not like him, just like Ginny as soon as the Harmonian Ginny haters (note that I don't include all Harmonians) found out that she liked Harry.

If that rant above is tl;dr then basically, this point makes me laugh because it's an utterly ridiculous reason to hate Piper and it's like hating Ginny because she likes Harry and sank the Harmony ship: completely ignoring personality in favour of acting like they've personally wronged you.

That concludes point two. Tune in next time for point three!

~ Puffy


	3. Piper is Obsessed with Jason

**Thanks so much to TailsDoll13, One Bright Light, pandorapegasister and the two guests who left me lovely reviews to find for when I finished work :) Enjoy this newest argument!**

_3. Piper's completely obsessed with Jason! Can't she go for, like, two paragraphs without talking about him?_

This is an interesting point in that I partly agree with this. Piper _is _a little obsessed with Jason and she _does_ talk about him a lot – but she's not Bella Swan obsessed like some people make her out to be. Her whole life doesn't revolve around Jason and she has other friends and interests, such as hanging out with Annabeth and the others and practicing her abilities. He isn't the 'be-all-and-end-all' of her life or the centre of her universe.

Think of it from Piper's point of view; she thought that she was dating this hunk of a guy for several weeks (compare him to your favourite celebrity, even, if you want to do it properly) and then she finds out that this, and possibly her first kiss (since it's never mentioned that she dated anyone else before), were nothing more than false memories implanted in her head. She really seems to love Jason and this would be enough to crush anyone, especially when she realised that she knew nothing about him. But she made an effort to get to know Jason and make their relationship work; Aphrodite said that as her daughter she could see possibilities and Piper strongly saw the possibility of her and Jason dating and being together happily and she worked hard to achieve this. She didn't trick or entrance Jason in any way; Jason was also interested in her and worked hard to get to know her and make their relationship work and in the end, it did.

Yes, Piper is obsessed to a degree, but I think it makes sense, to be honest. She's a daughter of Aphrodite and no matter how much she tries to downplay and suppress her Aphrodite side, it's inevitable that some of it would rub off on her and help to shape her personality. Percy is his own person but he's still got his father's laidback attitude and Annabeth has her mother's brain but isn't a carbon copy of Athena or her siblings. Piper is her own person and an individual in the Aphrodite cabin but it's inevitable that some of her mother's traits and attributes will rub off on her, otherwise there wouldn't be much point in having her for a mother. She may as well have had the goddess of persuasiveness (if there is one) as a mother and had charmspeak and nothing else.

However, I said that I'd go into that Piper claiming Jason scene and I will. I thought it absolutely disgusting that Piper claimed Jason like a hunk of meat or a prize and that actually turned me off her and I strongly disliked her until Rick Riordan released the later books and developed her character further. I mean, I get that she did so to make Drew back off and she had to be firm and assertive to make Drew take her seriously but bringing Jason in and asking _him_ to decide for himself _may_ have been a better idea and may have made Drew take her a little more seriously. At the end of the day, though, we have to accept that this scene happened and we didn't like it and just move on.

However, I do think that this is also in a child of Aphrodite's nature: to claim those that they like and love and develop jealousy and possessiveness over them. I'm not saying that it's right but it makes sense, considering who Piper's mum is. Piper does seem like the type to be possessive over what she considers hers, considering that she hasn't actually had much to herself; she talks people into giving her stuff that she doesn't want and gives back and so doesn't really consider it hers and she doesn't even have her dad, since he's always away and getting Jane to run things. One gets the impression that Piper clings to the things that she does have jealously, out of fear that she may lose them. And besides, this also adds a flaw to her and discredits the 'Piper is a Mary Sue' argument I deconstructed in chapter 1.

That was a rather short deconstruction but it's all I could think of for this point. If anyone has any more points then please, by all means, send them in – I've already had one idea sent in and that's written and done! Thank you all for reading my defence of Piper McLean and peace out! :)

~ Puffy


	4. Piper is Conceited and Shallow

**Thanks to Omega Alpha Hydra, Equinoxes, SilverSeaweedBrains and PlutoGenesis for their reviews :) I was originally going to end my argument last chapter but someone sent in an idea, which is written and waiting to go, and while looking up whether anyone else (like Hazel or Frank) was hated in case I needed to defend them too, I came across some more hate points and decided that I absolutely had to continue my defence of Piper. So…enjoy and have a very Merry Christmas, all of you!**

_4. Piper is so conceited and self-absorbed and stuck-up! And she's, like, so shallow – she only cares about how she looks!_

Incidentally, the conceited point came from a debate on the Camp Half-Blood wiki about whether Piper or Hazel would win in a fight and someone said, and I quote, 'Hazel wins because: She is not a self-centred idiot', so I added the rest on because I have seen it before (stuck-up, shallow, etc.). I honestly feel as though this person does not have a good grasp of Piper's character because Piper is anything _but_ self-centred. Yes, she does have her selfish moments of focusing only on Jason or herself, but she's _human _(half). Percy had his moments of focusing only on Annabeth; heck, TC was practically him worried sick about Annabeth and pretty much only thinking about wanting to save her! And yet he gets no hate because his name is not Piper McLean and his mother is not Aphrodite.

And when has Piper _ever_ been conceited and stuck-up? If anything, she's the opposite. She's suffered from low self-esteem throughout the entire series because a) Her father never paid her much attention and she desperately wanted a father who would love her like a father should and b) She already _does_ feel weak from being a child of Aphrodite! Many times it has been stated that Piper hates feeling useless and helpless, such as when they were cornered by the werewolves in TLH and she was injured, and she hated having to rely on other people to protect her!

And how is Piper shallow? Yes, she does care about her looks (in the opposite way that most girls do) but it's not as though it's all she ever thinks about. She cares about Jason, Leo (who she ran to hug when she thought he'd fallen out of the ship and who she considers a best friend), Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, Frank and so on. She cares about stopping Gaea from rising and about saving the world. She cares about making herself a better fighter so that she can contribute in ways other than just her powers and so that she can defend herself. In fact, this one quote shuts this argument down nicely:

"Aphrodite is about love and beauty. _Being_ loving. _Spreading_ beauty. Good friends. Good times. Good deeds. Not just looking good."

Do you see that? 'Not just looking good'. If Piper was shallow then she would be like Drew and only care about how she looks and how this can work to her advantage. She recognises that Aphrodite is not just about romantic love and beauty but about all forms of love: romantic, platonic, familial, etc. Beauty isn't everything and love doesn't have to be just romantic. How is that shallow? If anything, that's quite deep.

That's all I'm going to say on this point because otherwise I'll just feel like I'm trying to hammer everything in and annoy people. Tune in next time for point five!

~ Puffy


	5. Piper has the Power of Lurve

**Incidentally, this point made me laugh my ass off because…well, once Aphrodite forces them to fall in love with a cockroach they won't be mocking the power of love, will they? Thanks to Innoc3ntKitt3n, Hurklburkle and One Bright Light for reviewing :)**

_5. How could Piper ever win at anything? She'd just use the power of lurve and lose epically!_

I'm sorry but I'm going to have to rely heavily on Harry Potter for this to support my argument against this point. For those who don't know or can't remember, let's recap just how powerful love is in HP:

Lily Potter dies to save her son and her love sacrifice saves his life. Eleven years later, this shield continues to protect Harry when Quirrell and Voldemort try to touch him but can't. Voldemort then takes his blood when Harry is fourteen, taking Lily's protection but also anchoring Harry to life. Harry's love for his parents and godfather then allows him, at age fifteen, to drive Voldemort out of his head and end his possession and this was powerful enough to make Voldemort shield his mind like crazy, not wanting to feel that again. Then, at age seventeen, Harry sacrifices himself out of love for everybody just like Lily did for him and this shields them from Voldemort so that he can't burn Neville to a crisp or curse anybody because they just shake it off and get right back up. Everybody is also inspired by their love for Harry to fight against the most evil wizard in existence, even though they know there's a good chance they will die.

Right. And love is useless. If not for Lily's love for Harry then we would never have even had a Harry Potter series and I would actually have a life.

So how does this relate to PJ? In this context, not much. All it does is prove that love is powerful in the HP world. But if you take out the power and look at the _intentions_, then they match up. Lily loved Harry so much that she sacrificed herself? Leo didn't want to die but he loved everyone so much that he knew he had to so he did so. Percy's love for Annabeth drove him to find her when she was kidnapped and to not believe that she was dead. Annabeth's love for Luke refused to let her believe that he was gone and in the end, it was Luke's familial love for her that allowed him to resist Kronos and thus be the hero of the prophecy.

Piper knows that love can be a powerful thing. Her mother told her as much – Aphrodite, the goddess who can make even the gods do whatever she wants – and Piper has a deep love for her friends that allows her to contribute to the quest and try her hardest to be of use even though she feels that she is weak and not as strong as the others. Piper may not be able to tap into love like her mother but she has a deep understanding of what love is and she was able to tell Drew as much once she'd been on her quest in TLH and learned just what love was and what Aphrodite was really about.

Oh and if Aphrodite catches wind that you're mocking her power then she'll make you fall in love with a cockroach or dung beetle and have half-insect babies. Don't believe me? Read Percy Jackson's Greek Gods and tell me then that it sounds ridiculous. Aphrodite can be terrifying when she wants to be.

That's it for point five, so tune in for the next point!

~ Puffy


	6. Piper Could Hypocritically Be Strong

**Thanks to One Bright Light, Princess of Flames, Wisegirl2505, dukeofpoorplanning, Ravenclawdaughterofposeidon and the two guest reviewers, Izzy the perfect and Nyra teh Demigod :) Here is a perfect example of the hypocrisy I've been talking about. People are just determined to hate poor Piper, aren't they?**

_6. Piper could be as powerful as Percy or Jason or Annabeth if she'd just utilise her charmspeak! But no, she gives some lame excuse that makes her look all pure and blameless and she's so weak!_

Perfect, ain't it? You have people hating on Piper for daring to be able to mess around with people's minds and claiming that she does so all the time but she's so weak and useless and then you get people saying that if only she'd use it more often she could be powerful! Well, may I say one thing?

PIPER DOES NOT LIKE TO USE HER CHARMSPEAK.

She did not realise that she was using it before she knew she was a demigod and she doesn't like to mess around with people's minds because she's actually a decent person! Sure, Medea was more powerful but she freely used her charmspeak and revelled in the power it gave her and yet no one hates her for that and calls her manipulative! Piper knows that her charmspeak is necessary but she will not use it willy-nilly to get everything she wants. She felt bad about tricking that helicopter driver in TLH but she knew that if they didn't get to the Wolf House in time, everything would be lost!

And did people ever think that maybe power isn't really a priority for Piper? She wants enough power and strength to be able to hold her own so that she doesn't _have_ to rely on other people but if she really wanted power, she would train her charmspeak to be as strong as possible and then become a politician! She could rule the mortal world with her voice – but she doesn't want to. She wants a normal life and the ability to defend herself and she doesn't want to be an all-powerful figure. I can just hear Lord Voldemort and Salazar Slytherin laughing their asses off; all this power and potential and she doesn't use it? No, because she's got decency and knows that messing with people's heads is wrong.

So how does this make her weak and how is this some lame excuse to make her seem pure? Right, not wanting to control everybody is just a bid to look pure and above everyone else. How about I stick you with her and have her mess with your head and then you can continue to insist that she simply wants to look high and mighty? You wouldn't want your head messed with, would you? No, and this is precisely the reason that Piper doesn't like to use it! If anything, Piper is _strong_ for resisting the allure to constantly use her charmspeak and control everyone! I can bet that if I was in her position, I may not be able to resist making people do what I want if they annoy me and I may have gotten the position of school captain by charming people into voting for me. Piper is strong for resisting power and incidentally, I notice that Albus Dumbledore resisted power too but nobody hated him for this (no, they only hated him after DH showed that he was an actual human being but that's irrelevant). And I believe that I addressed the weak point earlier.

This concludes point six and my point about the hypocrisy of many haters in their bid to hate characters. Tune in next time for point seven!

~ Puffy


	7. Piper and Author Bias

**Just a helpful hint: I've been replying to all reviews left from an account and I never usually reply to guest reviews, since they clog up my author's notes. There was one review I wanted to answer but, as I just said, it'll clog up my bold and make trying to get to the actual content hell for the other readers. So if you want a reply, log in or leave me a way to contact you privately ;)**

**Anyway, thanks to Szilard, DarLatheBookworm, Dragon of Starlight, solangelo is my life, One Bright Light (who literally reviewed just as I was about to upload this) and the two other guest reviewers for their reviews. This was recommended by SilverSeaweedBrains and I must say that this is a good point. I read a fanfic like this the other day and I can't remember the title but it doesn't matter. Enjoy!**

_7. Piper is, like, _so_ a typical Aphrodite girl so I'm gonna write her as one!_

Ok, this isn't an actual argument I've seen, but rather how she is often portrayed in fanfiction. Rick gave us a tomboyish, atypical Aphrodite girl who can actually fight (even if she isn't the best) and tries to downplay her looks. So, then, why do some fanfiction writers see the need to twist her into a girlie, fashionable bitch who only cares about gossip and makeup and is pretty much Drew 2.0?

I know why. It's exactly the same as in a story I was reading the other day, in which the author disliked the Weasleys because they were poor and the Malfoys because they were rich and so swapped their attributes so that Molly was a pushy, gold digger bitch (now where have we seen THAT before?) and Lucius was like a second father to the female Harry (whose name was Holly and was the inspiration for the character I used in my other story, Join me, Potter, though far, far more useless). Ron is a filthy Weasley boy so he gets all of Draco's attributes foisted onto him, while the author is trying to squeeze Draco into leather pants and give him all of Ron's good points. The author loves Slytherin so Snape's biased attitude and favouritism were shoved to McGonagall, who hated Holly simply because she was in Slytherin and so McGonagall discriminated against Slytherin, and Snape got McGonagall's fairness with some of his asshole personality still remaining (although the author downplayed it as being justified because he was on Holly's side).

It's because the author has to warp a personality simply to make that character unlikeable and make their readers hate their guts. But there's one little thing that they don't get; if you have to hate on a character so viciously to make your favourite look good then maybe it's because _your favourite character is a horrible person_. If you have to make Molly look like a bitch and Ron an utter asshole just so that the Malfoys look good then it's pretty obvious to all that the Malfoys are such horrible people that you have to dump on the Weasleys to make them look good. Stephenie Meyer had to make Lauren look like a total bitch just to make Bella look good and had a horrible fate befall Lauren because Meyer disliked her and because Lauren dared to hate Bella but you know what? I feel pity for Lauren and I'm on her side because _Bella_ is a horrible person who has to rely on Meyer to make others look bad so that she looks good. If you have to make Piper look like a sluttier, bitchier version of Drew simply to make us dislike her then quite obviously the character you're trying to promote is _not_ a good person and your hatred actually shows quite clearly and I'm more inclined to pity Piper.

Incidentally, this is a major thing I can't stand in writing: author bias. For example, let's say that Rick hated Clarisse. If he had made her out to be a total bitch who was always bullying everyone and had no redeeming qualities and she was there purely to make an asshole Percy look good then his author bias would show quite clearly and some of us would feel pity for Clarisse for being treated that way and disgust for Percy since it's obvious that he's favoured. But that's not what happened. Clarisse was developed well, as was every other character. Rick showed no author bias and treated each character fairly as befit their role in the story. Even Luke got redemption and I hated him until I learned what made him turn out the way he did!

So to all PJ fanfiction writers: if you don't like Piper, then fine. But treat her fairly and write her in character according to what Rick has given us or, better yet, if you hate her that much then _write her out of the story_! In a believable way, of course; not like some ways I've seen some Peter Pettigrew haters shove him out of their story, like being stuck in a chimney in a Floo accident and dying because he's Just That Hopeless. Have her go home for the holidays or be out on a quest or something! If it makes you mad when you see your favourite character being utterly dumped on just because the author can't stand them and you're tempted to write a long, nasty review saying just how they should write this character, then guess what? That's probably how a lot of us feel when we have to endure Piper being turned into a bitch or an absolutely horrible character! You can't get mad about author bias against your favourite character and then turn around and make Piper out to be a horrible, bitchy, stereotypical Aphrodite kid when she's not. That's – you guessed it – hypocrisy, which is a point I seem to be bringing up a lot.

I sincerely hope that I've proved my point because author bias – especially against characters such as Piper – makes me really mad. Tune in for my next argument!

~ Puffy


	8. Piper's Nonexistent Fanbase is Stupid

**Thanks to Princess of Flames, Innoc3ntKitt3n, One Bright Light, the guest reviewer AWESOMESAUCEALLI, Di Blythe, Equinoxes, Jasper is Golden, the guest reviewer and MashPotatoeSquishBanana for their reviews :) Prepare for a small rant before the defence of Piper because the source of this point was the most sickening thing I've ever seen behind the anon hate group currently circulating Tumblr.**

_8. Piper doesn't even have a proper fanbase! Only Justin Bieber lovers love her and she's the most useless daughter of the most useless and stupid goddess! She can't do anything!_

I just…I found this hate thread for Piper where I got this point and I am literally _speechless_. I don't think I've ever seen so much hate in one place…how can people be so _cruel_? Before I address the point I think I need to get this little thing out of me first. Here are some quotes from that thread, which was about who would win out of Hazel vs Piper:

'_Can have Arion run over Piper multiple times(do it do it do it do it do it!)'_

'_Piper is the most useless character in the Heroes of Olympus, daughter of a useless and stupid love goddess and ALWAYS like Jason this and Jason that, like just shut up. She even dares to compare Percy with Jason and says that Percy is unimpressive and that Percy is weaker than Jason. _**(HAHAHAHAHA. She **_**dares**_**. I love that wording).**

_Go Hazel Levesque! Kill Piper and beat her up!'_

'_I just read this entire page and it is all Piper hate.(YAAAAYYY) Who voted for Piper?! I can't belive Piper keeps getting chapters in the books.'_

'_NOOOOOOOOOO! HOW COULD YOU UNCLE RICK?! HOW CAN YOU RUIN THE FINALE OF YOUR BEST SERIES WITH AN IDIOT?!'_

'_Oh my gods Piper shut up no one cares about your comments about Percy if you're so brave tell Annabeth that Percy is unimpressive . I'd like to see you try. ( Smirk )' _**(I believe I addressed this in a previous argument).**

'_If Hazel's ever in trouble, she can call Arion to trample Piper into dust.' _**(yes, this is not a hate point but incidentally, Piper could call Jason or another demigod to help her like this and then she'd get hated for being weak and not being able to do anything herself, thus nicely proving my point that many Piper haters are hypocrites who hate on her no matter what she does. Notice I said many, not all).**

'_Imagine how popular a "I Hate Piper blog" would be. Someone should totally start one. Raise your hand if you agree.'_

'_NOOO! Eleven people have voted for Piper!' _**and then this reply:**_ 'Thats terrible. :('_

'_At least the conversation is still Piper hate. Who wants to fantasize about ways Hazel could kill Piper!?'_

'_she is always hiding behind Jason so he can come in and save the day for her.' _**(yes because the girl who wants to be useful and helped Annabeth against Phobos and Deimos and battled a frickin' **_**giant**_** by herself while all her goddess mum did was float around and throw rose petals and summon doves is always hiding behind Her Man.)**

'_Well I was cheering for her to die'_

I am literally gobsmacked. This is EXACTLY what I've been saying: dislike her if you want but to have an entire thread devoted to hating her? (Even though it started as Hazel vs Piper who would win). Someone even called these people out on their hatred and was promptly attacked; someone told them to run for daring to defend Piper! This is precisely the reason I have lost faith in humanity; because I know that people like that exist and bash real life people. If Piper was real, this could constitute as cyber-bullying and I honestly cannot think of anything coherent to say. I'm sitting here with a blank mind. These people would probably say that they'd never support bullying or discrimination but guess what? This is exactly the same thing, only it's legal because Piper is fictional!

I think I need to bring in a guest to argue this point. Excuse me while I go recover because that cracking sound? That was the last of my sanity and faith in humanity that we can actually better ourselves as a race and maybe start to let go of hate. I have honestly never seen this much hate before and honestly I can't even

POOF

*enter the most beautiful woman ever to exist on a golden chariot pulled by doves*

Hello, my dears! Obviously you all know I am – I mean, who doesn't? Now, I hear that some people have hate threads about my dear daughter Piper and how she could never win against that Camp Jupiter girl who makes such a cute couple with that Zhang boy! When I saw some things that they were saying about her in this one (by the way, Piper would _totally_ win!), well, I couldn't refuse dear Puffy's request to handle this argument, could I? *giggle*

In answer to the first point, my Piper does indeed have a fanbase and dear, that makes me so happy! Everybody deserves love! Except those who don't worship me, of course. But they don't count anyway. Tee hee!

How do I know that my darling Piper has a fanbase? Well, how could an evil, icky person like that Lord Voldemort have fans but not my daughter? He doesn't even know love! How can all of the bad guys (even if some _are _hot! That Loki!) have fans but not Piper? She's beautiful (obviously! She's my daughter!) and gifted and she is not useless! And besides, according to Puffy, if she didn't have a fanbase then there would be none of this 'fan art' and 'fanfiction' about her! I've seen some simply delightful drawings of my daughter and oh, they warm my pretty heart!

Only Justin Bieber fans love her? Who is Justin Bieber?

*Puffy calls from a distance* A singer whose main fans consist of teenage girls attracted to his high voice and bad boy persona and who has a tonne of haters!

Oh, is he one of those? Dear, he must be a son of Apollo then. But no matter! Darlings, I highly doubt that one of Apollo's sons, especially one with as many haters as that, has more fans than my daughter! And there is no way that my daughter's fans would ever be as mindless as that!

*Puffy calls again* Aphrodite, you're not meant to insult anyone in this argument! I didn't call them mindless!

Whoops! Sorry, dears! *giggle* My point is that Puffy is not mindless or a Justin Bieber fan or both and yet she loves my daughter so, well, that nicely takes care of that argument, doesn't it? Oh, I simply can't _wait_ until Apollo hears about this! He won't live this down for the next millennium!

I believe that Puffy covered the useless point in a previous argument and – _what? THE MOST USELESS AND STUPID GODDESS? DARLING, I AM MAD! I SHALL GO ON A RAMPAGE AND FIND THE PERSON WHO DARED TO INSULT ME AND I SHALL MAKE THEM FALL IN LOVE WITH A _LEECH_! HAVE FUN KISSING _THAT_! _

*Puffy, from where she is hidden from Aphrodite* Guys, I don't normally pull in guests and I definitely don't usually write like this but that point rendered me completely speechless and Aphrodite was gearing for a go at defending Piper. I just didn't expect her to react like that…anyway, I'm pretty sure this'll be the last point but if there are more, feel free to send some in. And send help! I don't know how much longer I can hold out and she's threatening to bring Ares in!

~ Puffy


	9. Piper's Thanks

A spotlight turns in in a dark room and shines on a beautiful girl with an eagle feather in her choppy brown hair, and ever-shifting eyes. She is wearing jeans and a T-shirt and she smiles around at the audience seated in front of her below the stage.

"Hello," Piper McLean says. "I'd just like to say a huge thank you to everybody who has supported me throughout this defence and who believes in me and doesn't hate me. You have no idea how good that makes me feel!"

Piper unrolls a piece of paper and clears her throat.

"So, on behalf of Puffy, I'd like to say a massive thank you to the people who reviewed and supported us on our quest for justice:

- IAMNOTAGIRLBUTASTORMWITHSKIN

- Abnegation Ravenclaw

- SilverSeaweedBrains

- William Carstairs

- Dork Asian

- TailsDoll13

- One Bright Light

- pandorapegasister

- 21 is awesome (guest)

- Omega Alpha Hydra

- Equinoxes

- PlutoGenesis

- Innoc3ntKitt3n

- HurklBurkle

- Princess of Flames

- Wisegirl2505

- dukeofpoorplanning

- Ravenclawdaughterofposeidon

- Izzy the perfect (guest)

- Nyra teh demigod (guest)

- Szilard (guest)

- DarLatheBookworm

- Dragon of Starlight

- solangelo is my life

- AWESOMESAUCEALLI (guest)

- Di Blythe

- Jasper is Golden

- MashPotatoeSquishBanana

- KILLINGhope14

- PixelArtyGirl1

- Blackberry Explosion

- And all of the other guests who left their names as guest

Piper rolls up the paper again and puts it on a side table before offering the audience members another brilliant smile. They burst into applause for the aforementioned reviewers.

"You all have no idea how good this made me feel, to know that there are people in the fandom who love me," she says. "Or, at least, don't think that I deserve all of the hate that I get. I'm cool with people not liking me – all the hate just makes me feel down sometimes.

"Be sure to keep tuning in!" Piper continues to the audience. "Because within the next few days, Puffy should be publishing her defence of Jason, which makes me so happy!" Piper beams. "Puffy and I would also like to wish everybody in the audience an amazing New Year and we hope that 2015 will be a great year for everybody! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to find my boyfriend and try to force him into this while his guard is down because Christmas is over. I'm sure I'll succeed _somehow_."

Piper, a smirk on her face, stands up and leaves the stage, dragging a large, red-nosed reindeer costume with her. The audience members gulp and look at each other fearfully, suddenly very afraid for Jason Grace.


End file.
